"Readers who love medieval-esque fantasy will delight in this rousing tale of rebellion.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) After a warlord slaughters her patients, Sister Alessia quits the cloister and strikes out on her own to heal the victims of a brutal dynastic conflict. Her roaming forest camp unwittingly becomes the center of a vengeful peasant insurgency, raiding the forces of both sides to survive. Alessia struggles to temper their fury as well as tend wounds, consenting to ever greater violence to keep her new charges safe. When they uncover proof of a foreign conspiracy prolonging the bloodshed, Alessia risks the very lives she’s saved to expose the truth and bring the war to an end. FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress

With each issue of the Bards and Sages Quarterly, we strive to bring fans of speculative fiction an engaging and entertaining variety of stories from new and established authors in the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres. In this issue: stories by Tom Barlow, Jason Bougger, Milo James Fowler, Blake Gilmore, Rebecca Linam, Matthew C. Lucas, DC Mallery, Matthew McAyeal, Dennis Mombauer, Aisha Phoenix, Robin Reed, Daniel Ryan, Nicholas Stillman, Daniel Stride, Harold R. Thompson, and Sophie van Llewyn.

“A perfect distraction and inspiration, and a collection that begs to be shared. Be warned, though. If you plan to lend out your copy, start out with two. Once it leaves your hands you’ll never see it again.” —Denver Post (on Not Quite What I Was Planning) The editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning are back with its much-anticipated sequel, It All Changed in an Instant. With contributions from acclaimed authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Frank McCourt, Wally Lamb, Isabel Allende, Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, and James Frey, and celebrities like Sarah Silverman, Suze Orman, Marlee Matlin, Neil Patrick Harris, Ann Coulter, and Chelsea Handler, It All Changed in an Instant presents a thousand more glimpses of humanity. . . six words at a time. In the vein of the popular Post Secret books, It All Changed in an Instant, in the words of Vanity Fair, “will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists.”

A ship has vanished in the dark, in the very outer reaches of Earth's solar system. Alien invaders sweep through the void, destroying outposts and threatening humanity. The truth is known only to a few: We fired first. We fired on aliens whose very appearance and body language sent all humans into a flying rage. All but a few. Now an autistic savant from Mars and an alien diplomat seek peace...while some on both sides desire only conflict. Suza McRae and Haniyar must bridge the gap between their species, or risk a war that will destroy everything and everyone in its path.

This is one crown you don't want. Born and raised in the Dregs, the last thing I expected was the "honor" of being recruited to Crown Princess Academy. And by honor, I mean fighting for my life against the fae that rule our world. Our first exam is in three weeks and not every student will make it out alive... don't these bimbos realize that? I'm not fooled. I know how ruthless the fae can be. All the princess initiates are captivated by Lucas, the sexy fae Crown Prince who, in turn, seems fixated on me. He can't know that I'm actually the most powerful Malice Caster in the Dregs. I'm sure my talents for the Criminal Guild won't earn me any extra credit in my princess classes. All my life I've stayed one step ahead of the two-faced fae and their Malice, the out of control black magic that has nearly wiped out all of humanity. This is my chance to do more than survive--this is my chance to fight back. I'll play the Crown Prince's game. I'll wear the tiny initiate crown, dance in my glittering pink dress, survive the deadly exams, and ultimately graduate as the Crown Princess all while he thinks I'm playing right into his plans. He's in for a surprise when I reveal who I am and wipe that sexy, smug grin off his face... I just hope my heart doesn't forget he's the enemy. Crown Princess Academy: Book 1 is the first of a planned trilogy. As it is a series, there will be a cliffhanger. This is an upper YA/NA paranormal and fantasy series with enemies-to-lovers romance and HEA.

Twenty-four-year-old Audra Carter won't let mere blindness keep her from living life her way, using her keen hearing and uncanny instincts to guide her. This is all much to the dismay of her father, Jenson, a neuroscientist who has devoted his career to finding a cure for her particular form of blindness...

Tanner loves baseball, but he's not a big fan of being bossed around by those in charge: his parents, his baseball coach, God-who, if he exists, surely doesn't have time to spend on a small-town middle-schooler. But Tanner finds his world rocked when he is sucked into a bowl of leftover spaghetti and shot into a land of talking pasta who carry swords and spears-all of whom believe in a mysterious higher power they call "Chef." Their world is under attack by a giant spaghetti dragon, and they seem to think Tanner is the one sent to save them. Tanner is faced with hard decisions. Is this "Chef" actually God, and does He really exist? If so, is Tanner going to act according to his own devices to find a way home, or put his faith in the master recipe-maker and follow his cooked-up plan.